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Razia Khanum

Regardless of the fact that the right wing has gained victory in three state elections, the Government under Angela Merkel is not backing down in terms of their immigration policy.

Afd, the anti-immigrant party, who made significant gains are strong opponents of what they refer to as a ‘catastrophic’ decision by Merkel, to welcome millions of migrants and refugees last year.

Although the election results depict a huge win for the Afd party, they still remain a minority. It is also worth noting that the Green Party also experienced a victory during the elections, who are in support for Merkel’s policy. The two party wins display the ‘polarisation’ of votes.

Nonetheless, the elections are bound to put pressure on the chancellor, who is currently in the midst of pushing another deal with Turkey to limit the number of migrants entering Western Europe.

On the other hand, Jürgen Falter, a political analyst at Mainz University says, “She seems to be so utterly convinced of her strategy that I do not expect her to do anything different, unless her European partners force her to.”

A poll was conducted to see the support for Merkel’s immigration policy. It was discovered that in the poor eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, although her party Christian Democrats (CDU) lost votes they managed to retain the number one position followed by the Afd. However, in Baden-Württemberg they suffered a loss paving way for the Green party to come first. The Afd gained 15% of the votes lagging behind CDU, who gained a total of 27%. On the other hand in Rhineland-Palatinate the CDU came second and the Afd took the fourth position.